A bill aimed at decreasing the number of juveniles charged as adults is still alive in the Florida Senate, after narrowly passing its first committee Monday.
Under Florida law, a juvenile can be 鈥淒irect filed,鈥� if they commit certain crimes. That means prosecutors can try the juvenile in adult court.
West Palm Beach Democratic Senator Bobby Powell says his goal is to cut down on the number of those direct filed in the state. So, he filed a bill aiming to just that.
鈥淲hat it does is it narrows the list of eligible offenses to only the worst and egregious cases and it allows for a judge to be involved in the decision to transfer a child to adult court,鈥� said Powell. 鈥淯nder this language, 14 and 15-year-olds would be eligible for direct file for the same offenses that they currently are direct filed for, with the exception of grand theft, grand theft auto, unarmed burglary of an unoccupied dwelling structure, robbery, and aggravated assault without a firearm.鈥�
His bill also creates a detailed system for prosecutors to document their decisions to prosecute juveniles as adults. Sen. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) says there鈥檚 one other particular part he likes.
鈥淥ne of the things I like best about this is it deletes the term, 鈥渄irect file,鈥� and, it calls it what it is, which is prosecution of children as adults,鈥� said Clemens. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we do here in Florida. Direct filing sounds nicer. But, that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e actually really doing here.鈥�
The Florida Public Defenders Association supports the bill. But, the state鈥檚 prosecutors are against the change. Buddy Jacobs with the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association says state attorneys are doing a good job using their own discretion to make that determination. And, he says the number of those direct filed has decreased by 47-percent in the last five years.
鈥淚n the year 15-16, we reviewed 69,749 arrests,鈥� said Jacobs. 鈥淭hat involved 38,267 young people. Almost 58 percent of those never even saw a juvenile judge. The State Attorney chose alternate resolutions or didn鈥檛 file a case at all. Over the last year itself--between last year to this year鈥攚e reduced it another six percent. So, now you鈥檙e at the 47 percent we鈥檙e talking about.鈥�
Jacobs warned lawmakers to be careful about making changes to the current law鈥攇iven certain statistics.
鈥淚f you look at the juvenile justice figures, you see that the juvenile offenses that are creeping up now over the last five years are murder, attempted manslaughter, actually escape from the juvenile facility, and grand theft auto are all creeping back in again,鈥� he added. 鈥淭his is not necessarily a good time to start changing the ground rules, and we need to have the tools that we have to keep doing the good job we鈥檙e doing.鈥�
Still, the measure narrowly passed the Senate Criminal Justice committee 4-3. It does not yet have a House companion. Similar efforts have died in past legislative sessions.
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